C3G Unit Strategy - January 2016

Analyzed StatisticsLife Ė 5 (3/5)
The average unit has anywhere from 4 to 6 life, and therefore his life number is nothing out of the norm.

Move Ė 6 (3/5)
The average unit has anywhere from 5 to 6 move, and therefore his move number is nothing out of the norm.

Range Ė 1 (Melee)

Attack Ė 6 (4/5)
The average unit has anywhere from 3 to 5 attack, so having 6 attack gives him a slight advantage.

Defense Ė 5 (3/5)
The average unit has anywhere from 3 to 5 defense, and therefore his defense number is nothing out the norm.

Overall stat consensus: (4/5)
While most of his stats are rated (3/5) they tend to be mostly on the top of the scale, which will allow him to be more versatile than the average unit even if his stats are mostly average.

Species Ė Human
Pros:

As a Unique Human Hero, Captain America may be healed by Alfred Pennyworth's Field Medic special power.

As a Unique Human Hero, Captain America may be chosen for Arnim Zola's Cloning 16 special power.

As a Human, Captain America allows adjacent friendly Civilians to roll an additional attack and defense die due to their Strength in Numbers special power.

Class Ė Soldier
Pros:

As a Soldier, Captain America may be moved by Donald Ferguson's Soldier Cover Fire special power.

As a Unique Soldier Hero, Captain America may allow Bucky to take a turn before him due to Bucky's Super Soldier Scout special power.

Personality Ė Patriotic
Pros:

As a figure with the Patriotic personality, Captain America may add to Uncle Sam's attack and defense due to Uncle Sam's American Pride special power.

Avengers AssembleDescription: At the start of the game, you may choose up to 5 other Unique Heroes you control and place a white Avenger Marker on each of their cards. While there is a revealed Order Marker on this card, any figure you control with an Avenger Marker on its card adds 1 extra die to its normal attack and 1 extra die to its defense when that figure is within clear sight of Captain America.

Usefulness: This power is extremely useful; it is the core of his figure and what you will build your army around. While it does require you to take a turn with Captain America for the bonuses, it is no wasted turn.

Overall Usefulness Rating: 9/10 (extremely useful)

Shield Throw Special AttackDescription: Range 5. Attack 4. When Captain America attacks with this special attack, he may attack 2 additional times. He cannot attack the same figure more than once.

Usefulness: This is a nice ranged special that makes up for his lack of normal range; although you have to give up 2 attack dice, in most situations attacking 3 people is worth it. It also allows you to keep attacking even if you are retreating or not quite in melee range, which is more than what most melee people have.

Overall Usefulness Rating: 7/10 (really useful)

Vibranium Alloy ShieldDescription: When defending against an attack, Captain America always adds one automatic shield to whatever is rolled.

Usefulness: This power really helps his survivability; an auto-shield that works against both normal and special attacks is always a nice thing to have. And it allows him to easily shrug off most attacks from most average units.

Overall Usefulness Rating: 6/10 (pretty useful)

Points: 240
For 240 points Captain America is an excellent choice, both as an individual figure, and as a core to your build. His ďAvengerís AssembleĒ power allows him to work well with almost anyone, even if he works better with others.

In-Depth AnalysisClass: RookCaptain America should always be someone you want to keep alive. Heís not extremely powerful individually, but he is vitally important to your army as a whole.

Offensive CapabilityBecause Captain America has 6 attack, this allows him to easily dispatch lesser foes and contend with the tougher ones. Also because he has 6 move, he doesnít have much trouble crossing the field and catching up with most runners, but it also allows him to easily retreat from most non-flying threats, and like the rest of his build he is extremely versatile. With his special, he sacrifices a little damage for more targets, but itís worth it and this is very helpful when facing squads or close-knit groups of lower end heroes (5 or 6 defense max). Heís definitely someone to use for attacking even if itís only with his special attack, but avoid people with more than 6 or 7 attack given that heís important and you donít want to take too many risks. So in conclusion, keep close to the enemy if thereís no threat, but, if there is, donít be afraid to shy away and attack with your special if necessary.

SurvivabilityWhile 5 defense and 5 life isnít anything out of the ordinary, it can cause him some trouble sometimes if he engages withparticularlyheavy units such as Hulk or Juggernaut, but his Vibranium Alloy Shield really helps him out, this power allows you to easily shrug off most attacks from people with 3 and even 4 attack, even 5 attack isnít a big worry. But you still have to play safe: Captain America will definitely be a target for your opponent. He gives your army a big bonus and is key to your army, so if you lose him you could see a significant power drop and possibly a turnaround. Keep him safe but donít panic.

General StrategyUse him as the foundation of your army, not the finishing touches. He plays an extremely important role, as he brings most of the Avenger Markers in your possession. Heís a good unit with good team potential, so donít waste any of it. Youíll almost always want to pair him up with Wasp, as she is always a great choice. Captain America can distribute the markers you need as she uses her Avengerís Comlink special power to make sure you donít lose a turn. This strategy does require keeping a close eye on Wasp, but she usually isnít who the opponent goes for. Sheís not extremely hard to defend, sheís got 5 defense which helps her a bit, but sheís also got tiny stealth, and with her special attack she doesnít have too much trouble defending herself. Ms. Marvel is always a good alternative, but she isnít nearly as useful in the same way as Wasp. Ms. Marvel is really good in extremely offensive compositions, but she requires that you set the board before using the power. If youíre playing an offensive army with heavies such as Hulk, Thor, Hulkbuster, etc. go ahead and take her, but donít rely on her for bonding: thatís what Wasp is for. In general, youíll always want at least one of these two, though youíll most often see Wasp as sheís cheaper and more useful for ensuring turns. Keep in mind, though, that you still have to take a non-bonded turn withCaptain America to get his bonus (that is, take a turn by revealing an order marker on his card). And this brings us to my next point: Bucky. Bucky is a super soldierís best friend. You will definitely want Bucky in your army with Captain America. You donít even have to put anAvengerís marker on him; heís just a nice sidekick to Captain America. Heís got a good enough stat line for 60 points, and, because Captain America is a soldier, Bucky can take a turn before him due to his Super Soldier Scout special power. He can also get a good boost to his move if he needs to get somewhere. You do have to keep him relatively close though, and with his Machine Gun special attack this allows him to be a good, cheap, squad killer. So heís a must get if youíre facing a Hydra army or some other squad orientated army. His extra move also makes him a great glyph capper.

Iím going to touch briefly on another synergetic pick, Donald Ferguson. Heís an alright figure, but I donít think heís someone youíd really want to take a whole lot as he just doesnít go well with most Captain America armies. If you want to make an army with him and Captain America it would be easy enough, but it probably wouldnít be top tier stuff. If you decide to do that, though, I would suggest making it either an army based around Cybernetic Repair X or the Soldier class.

Outside of those there is one last good synergetic pick, Uncle Sam. Uncle Sam is a really good figure, but if you take him it is important to take either Bucky or Falcon. You can have both, but only one is needed and youíll see why in a moment. Uncle Sam receives one additional attack and defense die for each patriotic figure you control, but the max bonus he can get is 3. The reason that you only need one other patriotic person is because Captain America is already patriotic, and Uncle Sam can also make one person in your army Patriotic, This means that if youíre only getting patriotic figures for their personality youíve wasted some points if you get both Bucky and Falcon with Captain America. And while Falcon isnít a very synergetic pick, heís not a bad filler unit. There are better though.

Now that weíre past the army building strategy, we can get into the game strategy. Whenever you bring Captain America, youíll have to think tactically, and your opponent will also have to think tactically to figure out what you will do. Captain America is all about versatility, and youíll want to have him in such a way that your army can work around whatever is thrown at you. Captain America is not a heavy, or a ranged attacker, or a hit and run: he is all of those. He is like liquid. He will bend himself to whatever is needed. Youíll want to start Captain America near the front. If you have Bucky, heíll be a front-liner along with Uncle Sam and Ms. Marvel. If you have Wasp, place her in the back as far away from the action as possible. Captain America will always take at least one turn each round. If you have Wasp, Order Markers 2 and 3 will stay on her all the time, unless you donít put an AvengerísMarker on all your heroes. Always keep everyone with an AvengerísMarker within clear sight of Captain America whenever possible. If a better opportunity comes up, such as a one-life heavy that you can dispatch, donít be afraid to break clear sight to go after the objective. If you have Ms. Marvel, keep Captain America and everyone else with AvengerísMarkers close to her so she can take a turn with them whenever needed. Again, donít be afraid to break this connection to go after an objective. Generally youíll want Captain America to engage the opponentís figures in melee combat, but if youíve got a chance to do some nice damage with your special attack, take a moment to step back and throw your shield. If you have Bucky, always try to keep Captain America close to him and donít engage the heavies with Captain America if you can help it. Your army should have some sort of heavy that can deal with them. If necessary though, you should be able to fend them off for a couple of turns. Before attacking, always judge (based on the targetís special powers) whether you should use your special or melee. If they have something like C ounter S trike it may be better to use your special attack, but only if itís an auto shield, or your special wouldnít change anything; in that caseattack with melee. So if you play tactically and have a good army that works well together, the variety of your army should be able to defeat most armies thrown at you, and itís all thanks to Captain America.

Units to AvoidCaptain America canít hold out for long against Heavies with 7 or more attack such as Hulk. And he doesnít have any healing powers either; in most cases 5 life is all he gets. Long ranged snipers, such as Green Arrow, usually have a very high damage potential. This can be a problem, as itís not always easy to avoid them due to their range.

Official Competitive Maps to AvoidAny map that has low line of sight, such asSewerLabyrinth, can be a killer to this army as it almost completely negates Captain Americaís Avengerís bonus. If you have Ms. Marvel, it also limits her ability to take turns with people. You also have to be careful on fortress maps like HYDRA Base Gehenna. Outside of that most maps are fine, but maybe stay a little way away from Mountain Spring due to the amount of climbing it takes to keep up competitively.

Great write up! Love seeing Cap get some love. He was a huge challenge for us to design, as the Hasbro Captain America was probably the best regarded unit in that set.
With Avenger's Assemble, though, I think we really captured a flavor that the Hasbro Cap didn't, and I love the way the C3G Cap plays.
Great calls on the Wasp and Ms. Marvel team-ups. They were both definitely designed with him in mind. Other figures that I find pair well with him are Oracle (any time I'm making an army out of a bunch of Unique Heroes that doesn't feature Professor X or Mister Fantastic, she's a consideration) and Robot. Robot also helps Cap on maps where mobility is an issue. Storm or Angel can make good Avengers to help with this as well.